HAPALOTIS LONGICAUDATA, Gould.
Long-tailed Hapalotis.
Hapalotis longicaudata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XII. p. 104.
Kor-tung and Gool-a-wa, Aborigines in the neighbourhood of Moore's River in Western Australia.
Although very similar in form and style of colouring to the Hapalotis Mitchellii, the larger size and the greater length of its tail are characters by which the present animal may be distinguished from that species.
The interior of Western Australia is the only locality in which the Hapalotis longicaudata has been procured. The individuals forming the subject of the accompanying Plate were obtained in the vicinity of Moore's River, and now form part of the collection at the British Museum. They were sent to me by Mr. Gilbert, whose notes relative to the present species may not prove uninteresting:—
"This species differs considerably in its habits from the Djyr-dow-in (Hapalotis Mitchellii), for while that animal burrows in sandy districts, the favourite haunt of the present species is a stiff and clayey soil. It is also very partial to the mounds thrown up by the Boordee's (Bettongia Grayii) and the Dal-goitch (Peragalea lagotis). It is less destructive to the sacks and bags of the store-rooms, but, like the H. Mitchellii, is extremely fond of raisins."
All the upper surface and the outside of the limbs pale sandy, interspersed on the head and over the back with numerous fine black hairs, which becoming longer on the lower part of the back and rump, give that part a dark or brown hue; ears naked and of a dark brown; sides of the muzzle, all the under surface and the inner surface of the limbs white; tail clothed with short dark brown hairs at the base, with lengthened black hairs tipped with white on the apical half of its length, the extreme tip being white; tarsi white; whiskers very long, fine and black; the fur is close, very soft, and of a dark slaty grey both on the upper and under surface.
The figures represent a male and a female of the natural size.
